Elizabethkingia endophytica sp. nov., isolated from Zea mays and emended description of Elizabethkingia anophelis Kämpfer et al. 2011

A slightly yellow bacterial strain (JM-87(T)), isolated from the stem of healthy 10 day-old sweet corn (Zea mays), was studied for its taxonomic allocation. The isolate revealed Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped cells. A comparison of the 16S rRNA gene sequence of the isolate showed 99.1, 97.8, and 97.4% similarity to the 16S rRNA gene sequences of the type strains of Elizabethkingia anophelis, Elizabethkingia meningoseptica and Elizabethkingia miricola, respectively. The fatty acid profile of strain JM-87(T) consisted mainly of the major fatty acids C15:0 iso, C17:0 iso 3-OH, and C15:0 iso 2-OH/C16:1ω7c/t. The quinone system of strain JM-87(T) contained, exclusively, menaquinone MK-6. The major polyamine was sym-homospermidine. The polar lipid profile consisted of the major lipid phosphatidylethanolamine plus several unidentified aminolipids and other unidentified lipids. DNA-DNA hybridization experiments with E. meningoseptica CCUG 214(T) ( = ATCC 13253(T)), E. miricola KCTC 12492(T) ( = GTC 862(T)) and E. anophelis R26(T) resulted in relatedness values of 17% (reciprocal 16%), 30% (reciprocal 19%), and 51% (reciprocal 54%), respectively. These DNA-DNA hybridization results, in addition to some differentiating biochemical properties, clearly indicate that strain JM-87(T) is a representative of a novel species, for which the name Elizabethkingia endophytica sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is JM-87(T) ( = CIP 110885(T) = LMG 28604(T) = CCM 8570(T)).